WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States struck two alleged drug-carrying vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Sunday, killing six people on board, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday, as calls mounted for investigations into the strikes.

“These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route,” Hegseth said in a post on X, which included a video of the boats being struck.

The U.S. has carried out more than a dozen strikes since September on vessels near the Venezuelan coast and, more recently, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 70 people, according to the U.S. defense secretary, as it escalates a military buildup in the Caribbe

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